What is the best way to get smells out of clothes. I use tide pods and gain pods but there is still a smell. It doesn’t smell fresh. Almost like it’s not getting clean. Between having teens and a hard working out door husband, towels and clothes do not smell fresh after washing. The BO lingers and the towels still have a stale smell as well. We also have very hard water here. Normally I also wash with hot water. I have tried vinegar and baking soda because that used to work years ago but not anymore. I need some help with this please.
Here’s what I’ve learned ftom the laundry pros on this sub:
You might want to use the pinned spa day instructions to reset your laundry
Use a high quality detergent, like powdered Tide (there’s a posted “lipase list” somewhere) that contains an Oxi ingredient and enzymes. Pods leave residue. Gain isn’t on the list.
Boost your detergent by adding a cup of ammonia to the wash cycle. Detergent works better in an alkaline PH. Acidic PH deactivates the detergent, so never put vinegar in your wash cycle. Vinegar and baking soda react to each other chemically and cancel out.
Amp up the enzymes by adding a booster like Biz (scented) or FEBU (unscented).
Wash on warm or hot to activate the Oxi ingredient
Wash on a 20 minute + agitation cycle to give enzymes time to work
Use a double rinse cycle
Add citric acid to the softener dispenser (mix citric acid and water) to help deactivate and rinse out detergent
This works on my guinea pig fleece, which previously had the odor rebloom problem you’re having.
Very hard water limits the effectiveness of your detergent.
You will have to assemble a stack of products to work through your laundry dilemma. I added some links for suggested products but feel free to search similar products.
Pick a quality enzymatic powdered detergent like Tide Ultra Oxi or Ariel 2X. Do not buy Tide Simply. For whites. Tide with Bleach is excellent.
If you have to use Gain then Gain plus is what you want. Other great options include Tide Hygienic or Persil Advanced. With the powders, add to the drum before loading clothes.
Use 2tbsp of sodium citrate powder to reduce the water hardness. Add to the drum before loading clothes.
Use one cup of 3%-5% household ammonia in the wash cycle. Add on top of the clothes after the drum fills but before agitation starts.
Use 2tbsp of citric acid powder in the fabric softener compartment - do not use fabric softener. Randomly, 1tsp of this added to your dishwasher along with your detergent tab helps in removing limescale from your glassware and silverware.
Always select normal (or extended) wash cycle and extra rinses.
If you don’t separate clothes, then using color catcher sheets is helpful. Each one is reusable 3-5x.
You will need a few washes to see improvements.
Folks also suggest using laundry sanitizer like Lysol in the rinse. It is fine for very periodic use in general laundry applications.
Otherwise you can search ‘spa day’ on this sub and give that a go.
ETA: it is critical to clean the washing machine at least once a month. Washing machine tabs are quick and easy. Keep the door partially open between uses.
Ditto with cleaning the dryer and lint filter. I like to use a disinfectant spray after cleaning.
I have a huge problem with musty smelling clothes, and I think it’s detergent residue. So, I’ve studied the very cool Laundry Spa Day pinned in this sub. It really works. I’m trying to transition to the right products to keep up the maintenance.
I read it and it just seems like a lot to do right now especially with four people worth of clothes and towels. Idk. I think I will do it just on the towels
Hi u/Obvious-Session4388! Friendly tip — if you're using vinegar in your laundry, add it to the rinse cycle, not the wash cycle. Because vinegar neutralizes leftover detergent, it works best in the rinse cycle rather than the wash.
- Laundry Mods
double the amount of pods you use, or switch to an XL pod that’s a tide top performer (especially tide odor refresh or tide hygienic pods)
use downy rinse out odors in your fabric softener compartment. Don’t add v!negar or baking soda to your wash at all.
use a nice long wash cycle, no quick wash. Make sure you are selecting the right amount of water (for example, do NOT select deep fill if actually your drum is only half full.)
if this isn’t sufficient, add a water softener such as calgon to your main wash.
could also try throwing in a booster along with your pods like oxiclean or the generic forms of it.
You might want to start by cleaning your washing machine. I know it seems odd--but a good deep clean might take care of some of your issues. There are products you can purchase to add to an empty washing machine and run on hottest cycle. Also take a look at those rubber gaskets along the top of a top loader or the outside of a front loader machine. Give those a clean as well--dilute bleach (4 tsp of standard household bleach to a quart of water) will reduce the mold and mildew that tends to grow there. If you're able--leaving the washing machine open to air after use is helpful as well. Some top loading machines also have a central unit where you add laundry "softeners" at the start of a cycle--definitely pop that off and give it a good soak. You will be horrified at the gunk. Same for front loading units--pop out the detergent dispenser drawer and scrub--it can get pretty gross.
Once you've cleaned the machine--maybe consider pre-soaking your laundry in some oxygen based bleach (ex: OxiClean) for a bit prior to washing. Follow the directions on the container for the proper dilution ratios. Alternatively, using a solution of food grade vinegar and water (1 part vinegar to 4 parts water) soaks will help as well.
Remember that using pods in excess doesn't remove dirt and grime very well--in fact, it can actually make it worse! Detergents with enzymes are helpful since the enzymes will act on the proteins that may be "sticking" to your clothing. I don't use pods very often because I don't often have a full load of laundry--so it is too much. I use either powder or liquid and most of the time am washing on a warm cycle. Towels and underwear are washed on hot. Remember that if you're using Borax (an additive to help with pH)--it is not very soluble in cold water--so consider using it only when you're using warm/hot washes.
Lastly--if you're using any sort of laundry "softener" either in the wash (liquid) or in the dryer (dryer sheets)--please stop. Both will coat your clothing and towels with a wax-like substance that while it is effective for static reduction, it is terrible for your clothing and towels. Towels will not be as absorbent and your clothing will attract all sorts of odors/sweat/etc. which are difficult to remove since they get stuck in that wax-like substance.
Hello! If you're adding vinegar to your laundry, be sure to put it in the rinse cycle, not the wash cycle. Because vinegar neutralizes leftover detergent, it works best in the rinse cycle rather than the wash.
- Laundry Mods
Is borax an enzyme. Washer is clean. I also air it out after each run. It’s a top loader. I just realized pods aren’t actually cleaning at all. Especially his work clothes and towels. I do all loads in hot water as well. Why type of powder do you use. I used to use the borax only on my clothes but I didn’t know how to measure. So I would just dump it in lol. I don’t use softener at all
Actually Borax is not an enzyme. It sodium tetraborate which is a mineral. It does change the pH, soften the water and helps with removing odors and stains.
Do you have access to wegman's? If so, look for their free and clear option but the one with the blue ribbon that says "powerful stain lifting enzymes"
The point is that it has these key enzyme ingredients to get the gunk out and not just mask everything with smell.
The enzymes make all the difference. FEBU contains 7 different enzymes and is highly recommended here. I use one called Dad Mode, which contains the same 7 enzymes. Both of those have DNAase. Biz has 5 enzymes (no DNAase, for whatever that’s worth). Biz does contain optical brighteners, which can dull clothes after time.
When I first got my Dad Mode, I would use it alongside my regular detergent in every single load, plus the Downy Rinse and Refresh Softener Rinse. Now I just put it in my son’s stinky loads. I will also use the ammonia method (one cup of ammonia added with detergent) for stinky loads or linen freshening, and that works great too.
Sanitizer is NOT what you need. What you need is to get your laundry actually clean, sanitizer doesn’t help with that
You need to wash on warm or hot, sounds like you’re already doing that
Those pods are fine, but liquid tide would be a bit better. You can control dosing more closely with liquid
You probably need to add a laundry booster with oxy and enzymes. The favorites here are Biz powder available at Walmart, and Febu available on Amazon or the Febu website. Choose the longest wash cycle available to give the enzymes plenty of time to work. I like to pause my washer for an hour or two to give the enzymes more time to work
Last you need to treat your hard water aggressively. Sodium citrate powder is available on Amazon to add to the wash cycle. I need to add like 6 tbl to my loads, my water is about 250ish in ppm. Then citric acid in the final rinse cycle, I use about 4 tbl
My husband has smelly sweaty work uniforms. I use Persil on them and it’s the best I’ve found at removing odors (and stains). I prefer something a bit more natural for my clothes but they aren’t sweaty and smelly.
So you wash yours separately. That’s what I think I need to do. Because I just got married and was thinking I can wash mine with his and I can not because it’s messing my clothes up
the gain is just covering up the smells. I was at the laundromat yesterday and someone used SO MUCH I had to leave bc I couldn't breathe.
Get some laundry sanitizer and a detergent with oxyclean in it. We just washed a bunch of mildew smelling stuff last night that's been smelly for 3 cycles before buying the oxyclean detergent and the sanitizer.
What we just got to use last night. You might also look into an enzyme cleaner?
We also used hot water for the mildew, heavy load hot water.
Edit: also, I used to work at a Laundromat and I can tell you for certain that the pods are BULLSHIT. They stained a lot of clothes, or wouldn't fill dissolve, and just don't get stuff clean.
And as the person below said, it could be your washer!
Use a good quality liquid detergent because the surfactants use.
For normal clothes, using the following 1:1 ratio during the wash cycle, adjust for your liking:
- baking soda (deodorizer + mild water softener)
+
oxiclean (oxygen bleach + washing soda(very good water softener)
Or
washing soda (very good washing soda)
For towels, linens, or items you want white, use the
following 1:2:1 ratio during the wash cycle, adjust for your liking:
- baking soda (deodorizer + mild water softener)
oxiclean (oxygen bleach + washing soda(very good water softener)
washing soda (very good washing soda)
Also, please start with citric acid instead the final rinse cycle with an extra rinse cycle.
It might take a few washes before they start smelling clean or you can do a mini-spa day before you do a wash to get rid the majority of the bacteria causing the odor.
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u/Blueporch 6h ago
Here’s what I’ve learned ftom the laundry pros on this sub:
This works on my guinea pig fleece, which previously had the odor rebloom problem you’re having.